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One of the fastest lighting designers out of the blocks when GLP launched its groundbreaking impression Spot One LED head earlier this year was Jason Carroll.
Having had the opportunity to test drive the fixture at a show with Weezer earlier this summer, he has taken five of the fixtures out on tour this Fall with St. Vincent (the name under which talented multi-instrumentalist Annie Clark performs). Playing up to 1200-capacity mostly sold-out venues in the States, in support of the latest album, Strange Mercy, the tour then relocated to the UK and Europe, where Carroll has been able to source the same inventory — and add in some GLP impression 120RZ zooms for good measure.
The Spot One is the first fixture of its kind to be released to the global market. It extends the designer's potential immeasurably by harnessing the output of multiple LED sources which is then forced through the optical system of a conventional spot chassis to create both an even beam for RGB colour mixing and a focusable area for gobo projections.
The touring LD is unquestionably an early adopter. For when the Weezer tour rocked up to an outdoor amphitheatre during the OC Fair in California this summer the venue happened to be beta-testing four of the new fixtures; the house LD willingly let Jason add them to his show, (which he did by placing them on upturned roadcases behind the band). "I was immediately impressed that they seemed brighter than the 700W discharge fixture hanging above," he said. "They were fast moving, which worked well with a very energetic band like Weezer, and I also liked the fact that they could achieve a very sharp edge focus … and all 14 gobos could rotate."
Spot Ones thus became a natural choice when the St. Vincent tour set was being conceived by art director, Deborah Johnson. She set out to complement the house rigs, at the same time creating a lighting storyboard for each song, and choosing custom gobos for the Spot Ones and discharge fixtures.
Having worked with the band since 2009, Jason Carroll explained, "Previously I used a multitude of floor based LED par can fixtures to create a 'technicolor' stage look. I also had three white rectangle spandex stretchy shapes behind the band, to throw color onto and intentionally cast tall shadows.
"But for the current tour, Annie wanted the lighting to be drastically different, with no backdrop pieces and a color shift to mostly white light, which meant that we needed moving lights instead of LED par cans."
Thus the touring lighting package became entirely floor based, with many of the moving lights including the Spot Ones, on tipped up roadcases, giving Carroll the flexibility "to do some down positons on the band, and some up positions over the band members' heads." Four conventional Profile spots (stage left and right) — replaced in Europe by the GLP 120RZ zooms — along with two strobes on the midstage floor, and six generics (as foot lights for the four piece band) completed a simple, but highly effective set-up.
"The floor package programming was designed to look amazing even without any house systems," noted Jason. The majority of this programming had been carried out in New York by Ben Stanton and his assistant, Jon Goldman, with Jason Carroll joining the team to provide another layer of input to the process.
While the lighting for the US tour was provided by New York-based See Factor Industries for the European leg, Colour Sound Experiment took over, having recently added a large number of Spot Ones to their own inventory. As for the RZ120's, there were several reasons for the switch, he informed, notably easier portability, smaller size, lower power consumption, the flexibility to vary between both narrow beams and wide beams — and overall reliability as an LED fixture.
The long tour of duty has given Jason Carroll plenty of opportunity to assess the merits and attributes of GLP's newest baby — in addition to the effect he can generate from the twin rotating gobo wheels (and three-facet prism effect). "The Spot Ones operate on a 400W RGB chipset, and are incredibly bright for that rating — almost as bright as the 1200W discharge washes that I have them running up against," he observes. "The colors are very vibrant and I doubt that the untrained eye would notice that I was using two different types of spot fixtures. In fact we received specific comments on how good the Red looks on the Spot One."
The beam variations, from very wide, right down to a narrow iris beam, and either a soft focus or very sharp edge beam, were further plus points, he noted, since the St. Vincent lighting utilises a lot of the narrow beam feature.
Finally, of course, there are the considerable weight advantages. "This makes set-up and breakdown very fast, which is crucial for a touring lighting package. On top of that the Spot Ones generate almost no heat, so it feels like their internal components will last a lot longer than a typical moving light … and as they are LED, I don't have to ever worry about a lamp blowing out during a show."


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Farmers in this hardscrabble patch of the Midwest know the discomfort of summer heat, they've suffered through dry weather before and they've certainly lived through the boom and bust cycles of modern farming. But they've never season a drought like the one that's gripping much of the nation, and they're seeing miserable growing conditions rivaled only perhaps by the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s.
The images of drought have played across TV screens and on Internet portals for weeks on end. These images, however, don't match the experience of seeing the effects of the summer of 2012 up close.
The soil is cracked like weather-parched lips all across this once-verdant farmland, roughly a 90-minute drive due west of St. Louis or about two hours east of Kansas City. So dry and weak are the cornstalks out here that a gathering wind knocks over entire fields.
"We're cutting it down just so we don't have to look at it," said Carl, 67, a lifelong farmer in the New Florence area.
A prideful man who doesn't want his surname used, given his struggles this year with Mother Nature, Carl gingerly came off his tractor with the help of a cane and sat on one of its steps. He works the farm with his 36-year-old son, Scott. The family dog, Rover, scampered around and Carl's mother watched from a distance.
"In her 92 years, she said, she's never seen anything like it," Carl said, shaking his head while recounting the hard times befalling local farmers.
Over the past six weeks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 1,821 counties in 35 states as disaster areas, at least 1,692 of them due to drought. The agency is calling it the worst drought in more than 50 years. The USDA has designated almost the entire state of Missouri as under extreme drought conditions or exceptional, the worst designation.
The outlook wasn't much better when McClatchy visited farms in Madison, Ill., just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. There, corn crops were greener than in New Florence, but the earth was similarly cracked and crops are clearly stunted near the banks of the river, where water levels have fallen dramatically.
At the local cooperative in New Florence, where farmers all own shares of the company, Randy Rodgers is worried. It's not that things are a bit worse; they're off the charts.
"Production here is going to be off 75 to 80 percent. That's a big drop-off," he said.
Put another way, for every dollar of production, at least 75 cents is lost. These are the kind of losses that cripple a farm. All around the area, "For Sale" signs dot the roadsides as farmers try to sell land that, at least this year, isn't generating profit and income.
Adding to the kick in the teeth farmers are taking, many had been lulled into a false sense of security by the drought-resistant genetically modified seeds they've been planting.
"We'd come to believe that we were kind of protected against the weather. But clearly Mother Nature is still queen," said Rodgers, who farmed for more than two decades before turning to running the cooperative, where farmers buy their seed, fertilizer and other necessities.
Rodgers doesn't bemoan the dry weather's effect on the drought-resistant crops.
"It's kind of amazing it held on as long as it did. . . . We kind of kept hoping that if we hold on and get a little rain," he said, his voice trailing off.
The cooperative already had sold most of what was needed for this year's planting, so the effects of the unforgettable drought of 2012 will be felt next year, in the reduced purchasing power of local farmers.
For growers who produce single crops, such as corn or soybeans, crop insurance is likely to ease the sting for many, said Ray Massey, a professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia's agriculture extension program. For much of the last decade, at least 7 million acres of Missouri crops were insured.
"The problem with Missouri is that very few people are just crop producers. In Missouri almost everyone (on the farm) has cattle, and they've run out of food for their cattle," Massey said, predicting that the early slaughter of livestock will bring lasting problems. "That's going to be the long-term impact. The number of cattle is going to decrease significantly. . . . It's going to take years to recover from this."
The agency on Wednesday relaxed grazing rules set forth in crop insurance programs, in an effort to ease the drought's burden on livestock producers. It also modified its emergency loan programs, so that farmers and livestock producers can seek low-interest loans before the end of growing seasons.
There are other problems from this year's devastating drought, perhaps less obvious. Not only does the New Florence area supply ethanol producers and corn mills, but a lot of the area's product also is exported around the world.
The United States has been the top supplier of corn globally, but Rodgers, the cooperative leader, fears that the drought creates an opportunity for competitors.
"One of my real concerns is that by having such a shortage of corn that we're going to lose a lot of market share down the road," he said, pointing to new supply relationships being forged abroad as a result of the U.S. drought.

subset: commoncrawl


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Cytokine expression profiles of immune imbalance in post-mononucleosis chronic fatigue. Broderick G, Katz BZ, Fernandes H, Fletcher MA, Klimas NG, Smith FA, O'Gorman MR, Vernon SD, Taylor R. J Transl Med. 2012 Sep 13;10(1):191. [Epub ahead of print]
Broderick, Fletcher, Klimas, Vernon, Taylor… this big NIH-funded study was loaded with top ME/CFS researchers. Similar to the Dubbo studies in Australia, the study followed people, in this case, adolescents, who came down with an infection (infectious mononucleosis), to see who would then come down with chronic fatigue syndrome and why.
Citing the many published studies linking ME/CFS onset to pathogens, the authors emphasized the strong link to infection found in this disorder.
"There remains…an overwhelming body of evidence reinforcing the link to an infectious etiology in at least a subset of CFS patients."
Thus far the researchers have found that, by 6, 12 and 24 months after acute infectious mononucleosis, 13%, 7% and 4% of the adolescents met the criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome. Encouragingly, these are strikingly similar percentages to those found in other studies tracking infectious events.
Given the wide range of documented ME/CFS pathogen triggers (EBV, Cytomegalovirus, HHV-6, Q-fever, Ross-River Virus, enterovirus, parvovirus B-19, giardia) it's probably time to wonder if a subset of people infected by ANY serious pathogen might not be left with ME/CFS for a significant period of time.
If that's true then this disorder may be far more common than anyone has suggested yet.
In this study the researchers examined 16 immune factors called cytokines using the latest methods, and gave their analysis a twist: Since cytokines usually co-occur together, they looked at 'combinational effects' to see if suites of cytokines showed up together.
First they found IL-8 was increased and IL-23 was decreased in people with post-infectious CFS. Then, using a more sophisticated analysis they found that they could predict 80% of the people who came down with ME/CFS simply by examining the levels of 5 cytokines (IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-23 and IFN-y) in their blood.
Focus on IL-8
Il-8 has all sorts of interesting potential tie-ins with ME/CFS.
We know the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight response) is over-activated in this disorder and IL-8 has been linked to sympathetic nervous system induced pain, as well as pain in fibromyalgia, and is up-regulated in a key brain region (the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)) believed to play a role in both chronic fatigue syndrome and FM.
IL-8 is also produced by cells with toll-like receptors that participate in the early, innate immune response, which has been showing up in spades in CFS research recently.
The fact that these researchers were able to pick out 35 of the 42 ME/CFS patients simply by measuring five cytokines demonstrated that the group was in the grip of a substantial immune dysregulation.
Pathogen Fighting System May Be Blunted in Adolescents with CFS
But what kind of immune dysregulation? Four of the five cytokines highlighted in the study play a role in the Th17 system, an important player in the fight against opportunistic infections and a known culprit in auto-immune diseases and inflammation.
This study suggested that a poorly functioning TH17 pathway could be preventing these young ME/CFS patients from clearing EBV from their systems. Interestingly, some studies suggest EBV may be able to modify the TH17 system, thus clearing the way for greater infectiveness.
Whom Do These Findings Apply To?
The authors noted that these findings could apply to patients with other types of infectious onset, or they could be peculiar to this group.
In a previous study involving a more general population of ME/CFS patients, the researchers found lower IL-8 levels, instead of the higher levels found in the present study. The contrast in findings of the two studies outlines the high level of heterogeneity in the ME/CFS community – and the urgent need to develop subsets.


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Creative have joined the amassed ranks of, well, just about everyone, in offering an Android tablet. But they aren't fighting it out at the top with the likes of Samsung, and with the ZiiO 7 starting at a penny under £200 this could be the tablet you're looking for to keep you entertained on the move.
Running Android 2.1, with an update to Android 2.2 promised (with Creative saying that this would "definitely" bring with it access to Android Market), Creative have done a little customisation to make the device their own.
Rocking a 7-inch 800 x 480 pixel resolution resistive touchscreen display, we found the touch response to be pretty good, and given the size on offer, we had no problem rattling out a few choice sentences on the on-screen keyboard.
The construction is befitting of its budget status, so don't expect it to be beautifully hewn from premium grade metal – its decidedly plasticky in the hand. But you do get to expand the memory via the addition of a microSD card, adding to the 8GB or 16GB options available to you.
We dug around the menus and investigated Creative's differentiator, which is on the audio front. They've incorporated their X-Fi technology which promises to improve the quality of your audio playback. To fit in with their line of wireless speakers, you'll also find that the ZiiO comes with Bluetooth 2.1 and features the apt-X audio codec, which promised high fidelity, low latency audio performance over Bluetooth.
Reading from the spec sheet the video and audio format support is comprehensive, but we'll reserve judgement until we get the ZiiO 7 in for a full review.
Creative told us that you'd get access to apps through the ZiiStore, however the sample we looked at had Slide Market. Angry Birds was present and correct, as it seems to have become the defacto game to demonstrate anything Android.
We'll also be investigating how it performs, given that it's using Creative's own chipset and they couldn't tell us what the clock speed was of the processor, or how much RAM was in support. It can't be too shabby though, as we've seen it playing 720p HD video out over HDMI to a TV – and it looked pretty good.
NOTE: The model we snapped wasn't final hardware and didn't feature the HDMI. As we understand it, retail versions will feature the HDMI.
UPDATE: We've added some ZiiO 10-inch picture here (that's the black one). There are a range of touch controls across the bottom in the bezel, including playback controls, with Creative pitching this as a device for watching video on the move. Essentially it offers the same tech specs as the 7-inch model, except with a 1024 x 600 pixel resolution display.


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At BBC Active we offer thousands of BBC programmes which can be used as educational resources to enrich your next lecture, tutorial, festival screening or workshop. We can supply your BBC video in whichever format you require, providing you with the necessary rights permissions to use educational content in your classroom, seminar or exhibition. We also sell digital licences to allow you to show your BBC training and education videos in online environments.
Our educational videos cover BBC series and films in a range of subjects from business and history to health and safety. All feature the production quality and editorial integrity associated with BBC programming.


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An Evening With Adam WestPosted by Adam West in: Appearances // Events on: Jan 31, 2012
Adam just wrapped up a special live performance this last Saturday at the Jon Lovitz theater in Los Angeles called "An Evening With Adam West". Hosted by actor and radio host Ralph Garman, the show was a humorous, intimate and candid look back on Adam's life and 50 plus year career in showbiz. Thank you to all who came! In case you missed it, we've posted the digital audio of the show, along with a link to all the pictures and videos that were part of the show. Click here to check it out!


text: This document contains speeches given at the SCLC's Tenth Anniversary Convention Banquet. Sidney Poitier, a Bahamian American actor, gives the keynote address. He makes a very compelling statement during his address asserting, "to change the world we must change men." Also featured are brief speeches by Dr. King, Andrew Young, and Dorothy Cotton.


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Check out reviews left by other students or leave your own review. You could win a free scholarship.Add your Review
Dane from Bronx, NY
Reviewer is A current student here.
1 of 5
Categories Comments Campus Safety
Campus is very safe. It is located at the County airport
Clubs and Activities
Southside and the Strip district
Great for these types of students
Mechanically inclined
Bang for the buck
For the education and learning experience this is probably one of the most affordable schools around.
What to do for fun
Not much to do if you are under 21- if your not there is a lot of night-life on the weekends on the south side.
Food and Dining
There are a lot of restaurants in the area, some days the school has vendors such as chick fil-a that come to the school to sell lunch.
Dorm Life
There are no dorms but the school helps you to find affordable housing in the area.
Academic Rigor
There are multiple tests every week. Course put you to the test to see how much you actually understand what you are doing.
Tips for prospective students
Come prepared to work all day. Tools are a must. Be friendly to your classmates as you will be doing a lot of group activities. Know your limits, don't pretend you know something if you really don't, there are a lot of machines and equipment that can harm you. Great learning environment.
In three sentences
This is a well put together program, from the moment you walk in you realize its all about business. Instructors are very knowledgeable in their field, most have hands on experience in the field and one of the great thing about this school is that you can take what you learn and apply it into a multitude of industries not just aviation. This school is great for anyone who is mechanically inclined and enjoy working with their hands, if you are such a person then this is the place to be.
Unknow from Hagerstown, MD
Reviewer is A current student here.
2 of 5
Categories Comments Campus Safety
Safe right by the an Airport
Clubs and Activities
We select a President and a Vice President for each semester. We give him ideas what we like to see changed or just ideas.. to improve and he shares the ideas with Campus the director P.S We went to a field trip because some one came up with the idea and a month later we were on a bus going to the a Airplane Museum.
Great for these types of students
Like hands on Then this is for you!
Share any unusual traditions or locations on campus
Pretty nice Our Administrator Director brings us Chick-fil-a on Wednesdays and Tuesday and Thursday Some one comes to the school and sells sandwiches/salads .. ect
What to do for fun
We have a computer lab that we can check our email / research etc..
Food and Dining
30 minutes of lunch time about 1/3 of students travel to get lunch burger king/McDonalds/Taco bell/sheets by the way this school has a couple of vending machines too
Dorm Life
No Dorms at Hagerstown branch campus Students live in apartments less than 2 minutes away from the campus
Academic Rigor
It's challenging, Studying is very important
Tips for prospective students
Study The material that is given an you will succeed
In three sentences
Rate 9 out of 10 Great school lots of hands on 9 out of 10 because it's a fast paste university
Antoine from West Mifflin, PA
Reviewer is A current student here.
3 of 5
Categories Comments Great for these types of students
For people who want a career in life and make money
What to do for fun
Play basketball and wave pool up da street.
Food and Dining
Most food off campus....close too mall...got a lot of choices.
Dorm Life
No dorm
Academic Rigor
They know their stuff. Companies always come grabbing our students.
Tips for prospective students
Stay on top with your time. Stay after school if need him. Make sure your networking while in school.
In three sentences
Is a great high pace learning school. Teachers who are well knowledge in there study. Careers opportunities it will give you.
Antonia from Smithsburg, MD
Reviewer is Accepted here and planning to attend soon. Reviewer has been to campus.
1 out of 1 people found this review useful. 4 of 5
Categories Comments Food and Dining
all dining is off campus.
Dorm Life
There is no dorm, off campus only.
Academic Rigor
The classes are at a good pace.
In three sentences
The school is a great place to learn, with the small class sizes. The graduation rate is very high, along with the job placement rate with the demand in this field.
Arrington from Pittsburgh, PA
Reviewer is A current student here.
2 out of 2 people found this review useful. 5 of 5
Categories Comments Clubs and Activities
They have a bowling and a golf club
Great for these types of students
Good with your hands, dont mind a little dirt and oil. On par with technology and science.
What to do for fun
The fun part is all the projects on countless forms and types of technology you will be learning
Dorm Life
They do not have dorms, the school is on an airport.
Tips for prospective students
I suggest to keep up with the teachers and the rest of the students, you never want to get left behind. If you find yourself behind then apply yourself and stay after school to get the extra help. Also I suggest that you keep your time down.
In three sentences
The courses are fast paced, but the learning enviroment is growing and steady. The teachers are great and have massive experience and knowledge on the subject and field. You will feel confident in where you are at and where you are going


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Our Enlightenmental Philosophy is built upon the following foundation:
Airway First and Foremost Airway First is the unquestionable stance of our profession. How do we approach this at Wake? We make the Difficult Airway fun, something to be sought out because you will enjoy being able to intubate the hardest possible airways awake, quickly and smoothly. Our last 150 graduates can make this claim and can perform awake intubations, room to tube, in less than 10 minutes. The Difficult Airway Algorithm long ago placed the Awake versus Induced decision at the very top of the decision tree, we simply align our training approach to make each branch of the algorithm comfortable. All of last year's graduates exceeded 200 ancillary airways, 50 fiberoptic intubations, 25 awake intubations, 20 lightwand intubations, and dozens of videoscopes, glidescopes, LMAs, and intubating LMAs. Practice makes perfect and you will have several rotations here that use ancillary tools exclusively.
Emphasis on Primary Subspecialties What are the Primary Subs? Well, never defined as such, but obviously they are Peds, OB and Regional since you will rarely work a call shift in your career without tapping into at least one, if not all three, of these subspecialties. Extreme mastery of these is simply mandatory. We maintain a pediatric bias throughout our four year continuum and provide our heaviest clinical experience in OB and Regional. All of our residents do hundreds of labor epidurals and peripheral nerve blocks.
Depth in Advanced OR SubspecialtiesWhat are Advanced Operative Subspecialties? As one might guess, they are Cardiothoracic, Neuro, Major Vascular, and Ambulatory Anesthesia. We pride ourselves on the depth we attain in training these subspecialties that contain so many unique situations, so heavily represented on our certification examinations.
Breadth across the Perioperative SpectrumPerioperative rotations here include the PACU, the Pre-anesthetic Assessment Clinic, Chronic Pain Management, and work in several different ICUs. Consultants in our field will need to remain adept at all aspects of perioperative medicine, with an even greater emphasis anticipated for the future. Roughly half of the oral board is guaranteed discussion in this realm. We have two Mock Orals each year and a well developed Simulation Lab to help drill for the upcoming OSCE portion of certification.
This construct is meant to build a consultant that can work in any system or situation, and to further function in a solo practice situation if necessary. This is not a common scenario, but with an unapologetic nod towards military training methods, one never knows what the future holds. Skills training needs to be specifically developed in a stepwise fashion: mannequin work, elective opportunities, cadaveric instruction, and most of all…heavy repetition. This has always been the tried and true method for procedural mastery. To this end, each of our graduates performs in excess of 200 ancillary airways, labor epidurals and peripheral nerve blocks. more
Phone -4426Fax -0934
[email protected]
We train our residents to become highly skilled anesthesiologists.
Disclaimer: The information on this website is for general informational purposes only and SHOULD NOT be relied upon as a substitute for sound professional medical advice, evaluation or care from your physician or other qualified health care provider.


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Wow. I had no idea that some Catholics would go so far as to prevent simple procedures to remove ectopic pregnancies. These are conditions in which the zygote implants in the wrong place — the fallopian tube, rather than the uterus. The embryo can grow for a while, but not long, before it reaches a size that ruptures the fallopian tube and causes the mother to bleed to death. The solution is easy: either surgically remove the doomed embryo before it can become deadly, or use a drug, methotrexate, that kills dividing cells to destroy it.
But no, that's an abortion and some Catholic hospitals prohibit even procedures that would end an utterly futile pregnancy.
Yes, some Catholic ethicists argue that the catholic "Directives" preclude physicians at Catholic hospitals from managing ectopic pregnancies in a way that involves direct action on the embryo. So a woman can have her whole tube removed (an unnecessary procedure that could reduce her future fertility), but she can not have the pregnancy plucked out (as is done with the standard therapy, a salpingostomy, where a small incision is made in the tube and the pregnancy removed) and she most certainly could not have the methotrexate.
How common is this practice? Well, it is pretty sad that someone had to study it. According to a study from 2011 by Foster e. al., (Womens Health Issues, 2011) some Catholic hospitals refuse to offer methotrexate (three in this study of 16 hospitals). The lack of methotrexate resulted in changes in therapy, transferring patients to other facilities, and even administering it surreptitiously. All of these expose women to unnecessary risks, expense and are, quite frankly, wrong.
These patients who are turned away go, we hope, to less ideologically abusive hospitals, where they get treated. Imagine a country with nothing but Catholic hospitals, though: they'd be sending these women away to die.
I have no understanding at all of the logic that justifies a Catholic hospital refusing to remove a deadly embryo, but does allow them to chop out the whole organ bearing the deadly embryo, at a cost of reduced fertility. It seems somehow un-Catholic…but on the other hand, the fact that it requires twisted theological logic that ignores basic human needs makes it profoundly Catholic.


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Zendeh Del & Associates, PLLC is a Galveston, Texas based law firm. We provide clients representation in criminal defense, family law, and personal injury cases.
*Principal Office in Galveston, TX*
Visit us on YellowPages.com where we have a 100% Client Rating.
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Visit us on Avvo where we have an SUPERB RATING (highest rating possible) for experience, industry recognition, and professional conduct as lawyers.
Jonathan Zendeh Del has been chosen one of the "Top Lawyers in Houston" by Houstonia Magazine
Jonathan Zendeh Del has been named a Super Lawyers Rising Star and was featured in Texas Monthly Magazine
Jonathan has been inducted into The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers


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MIAMI (AP) With a lot of muscle and a little body English, Garrett Jones finally beat the Chicago Cubs' shift by clearing it.
Jones hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning Tuesday night, and the Miami Marlins rallied to beat Chicago 6-5.
Jones had been 0 for 9 in the series against the Cubs, who deployed three infielders to the right of second base against the left-handed hitter.
''The shift has taken away some hits,'' Jones said. ''It has frustrated me a little bit mentally, chasing some balls out of the strike zone trying to make something happen. That last at-bat, I just squared it up and wasn't worried about the shift, and was able to get it out.''
Jones' one-out drive hit the top of the wall and bounced into the bullpen for his ninth home run, but his first since May 23.
''I was getting up on my tiptoes, wishing it would go over, and it did,'' he said.
Adeiny Hechavarria started the seventh with a bunt single for his fourth hit. Rafael Furcal had a two-out, two-run single in the fourth for his first RBIs since 2012.
Hard-luck Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija allowed three runs, two earned, in six innings but again was denied a victory. The Cubs are 4-11 when he starts even though his ERA is 2.78.
''That's the way it goes,'' Samardzija said. ''I go out and pitch and keep doing my job and making improvements. I battled, and I liked the way I finished. I made some good adjustments and finished strong.''
Luis Valbuena's RBI double in the seventh gave Chicago a 4-3 lead and left Samardzija in line for only his third win.
But Miami rallied against Brian Schlitter (2-2). Cubs manager Rick Renteria left the right-hander in the game to face Jones, rather than going with lefty Wesley Wright.
''I was 99 percent convinced Wright was coming in,'' Jones said.
Renteria said he opted for Schlitter against Jones rather than bringing in Wright to face pinch-hitter Jeff Baker.
''It was pick my poison,'' Renteria said. ''Schlitt just left the pitch up. That's obviously not what he wanted to do.''
Junior Lake hit his ninth homer, and third in five games against the Marlins this year, but the Cubs went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. The Marlins were 2 for 13.
Miami, which leads the majors in home victories, improved to 24-14 at Marlins Park.
Marlins rookie Anthony DeSclafani, recalled from the minors Monday, gave up four runs in 6 1-3 innings. Sam Dyson (1-0) pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings for his first career win, then was optioned after the game - as expected - to Triple-A New Orleans.
''We gave him the scorecard,'' manager Mike Redmond said. ''He was pretty fired up about that.''
Steve Cishek gave up a run in the ninth on Justin Ruggiano's sacrifice fly before striking out Anthony Rizzo with the bases empty to earn his 16th save in 17 chances.
Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who came into the game leading the NL in home runs and RBIs, went 0 for 4 and stranded five runners.
Miami scored an unearned run in the first when the Cubs tried to turn a 3-6-1 double play, and shortstop Starlin Castro's errant throw allowed Furcal to come home from third. Furcal returned last week after being sidelined since the end of the 2012 season because of injuries.
In the second inning, Lake hit a two-run homer to put the Cubs ahead. Darwin Barney and Eli Whiteside pulled off a double steal - the first stolen base for each - and Samardzija followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.
NOTES: Furcal returned to the lineup after sitting out a game to rest a swollen left knee. ... The ballpark's retractable roof was closed when a thunderstorm with 50 mph winds passed by in the seventh inning. ... Marlins C Jarrod Saltalamacchia (concussion) caught eight innings in a minor league rehab game Monday and might rejoin the team this weekend. ... Castro hit his 20th double. ... RHP Bryan Morris has yet to allow a run in 9 1-3 innings since being traded to the Marlins. ... Miami RHP Chris Hatcher has recorded 12 of his past 13 outs by strikeout. ... Marlins RHP Nathan Eovaldi (4-2, 3.71 ERA), who was on paternity leave for the birth of his first child, faces Cubs RHP Jake Arrieta (2-1, 2.09) on Wednesday.


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A new environmental film project exploring the power of acting locally and how design can impact the world is now underway. Aptly named LOCAL: Make the Switch, the project will consist of 25 short films and an ambitious social media site that seeks to turn our media consumption into positive action. To help get the films in the can, the brains behind the initiative are looking raise seed funding, and have some social investors in the wing. With inspiring stories on rooftop gardens, eco hub communities, and the Living Building Challenge, LOCAL will provide the key insights about how we can make new urbanism a reality—a subject close to our hearts here at Inhabitat.
"LOCAL transforms 'stories into action' because we hold our viewers and fans alike to a commitment curve to make a difference in their own local neighborhoods. These are the stories—and the people—that will define the next decade of environmental activism."
The profiled stories are not feel-good tales about recycling incentives and solar gardens (although we love those), but rather they revolve around transforming entire communities from the bottom up through design and through visionary participants. Many of the films will focus on new forms of urbanism with interviews with environmental thought leaders, adding a personal touch to the work profiled.
The team has posted their first sample film to offer a peek at the rich production quality and inspired content. It covers Christine Baker's edible schoolyard in a reclaimed Brooklyn parking lot, Robert Hammond and the creation of the High Line, and the inspiring words from Vandana Shiva of the World Future Council: "No big change starts big, all big changes begins small in our communities, in our gardens in our lives, in our consciousness."
They made a good run on Kickstarter last year but came up short, so this time they are using Indiegogo, which will allow them keep the money even if they don't make their goal. The film project, co-developed by five long-time producers, is the first step in a media site designed to connect those who yearn to partake in creating livable communities, and those who are making them happen.


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2012 Startup Outlook Survey, by Silicon Valley Bank
Every year the Silicon Valley Bank published its Startup Outlook Survey. Intimately acquainted with Silicon Valley startups in high technology, software, and clean technology, SVB has their finger on the industry pulse.
"The 2012 Startup Outlook Survey captures a U.S. economy in transition. The technology sector continues to lead the broader economy out of the downturn, posting strong returns even as the overall economy strains to rebound. Dynamic new sectors are growing rapidly, businesses are hiring and startup executives are bullish on the U.S. market. Optimism and confidence remain high.
Yet warning signs exist — particularly for capital-intensive sectors and those that depend on the government to set market rules. Left unaddressed, these weak spots could grow and ultimately choke the United States' ability to sustain its position as the leader in innovation based economic growth."
The 2012 survey highlights the role of technology startups in leading the recovery. Nearly two-thirds of tech starts ups hit or surpassed revenue targets, marking the third year in a row that more tech startups met revenue goals. The majority of respondents were optimistic that business conditions have gotten better of the last year and will continue to improve, hardware and software executives being the most optimistic.
Hiring plans abound for the coming year – with 83% of those surveyed expecting to create jobs this year (90% of software startups plan to hire). Companies view recruiting as a challenge, due to growing competition for talent. Companies are seeing talent pool shortages particularly in high demand specialty areas such as mobile computing and security information technologies.
And while the U.S. remains the location of choice for startups because of its innovative and entrepreneurial mindset, access to capital, and the overall quality of the workforce, there are challenges. The biggest challenges to the U.S. market include the cost of doing business, tax rates and regulations. Life science and cleantech sectors feel the challenges most acutely and therefore feel compelled to expand into the global market. Another challenge in the U.S. educational system is doing an insufficient job of preparing the workforce with the necessary skills. The ability to scale operations and the general economic climate are also ranked high as current challenges.
The entrepreneurs surveyed expressed a lack of faith in the presidential candidates' ability or willingness to promote economic growth in the innovation economy. Startup executives rated intellectual property protection, health care cost control, regulatory streamlining, and access to highly skilled foreign workers, in this order, as top policy priorities. The fiscal priorities of those surveyed include: investments in ideas and basic infrastructure, via R&D tax credits, R&D funding, tax reform, and investments in technology infrastructure.
To read the in-depth analysis and results of the Silicon Valley Bank 2012 Startup Outlook Survey, visit the bank's website.


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Tree Planting Event 2012 - All you need to know
Join us at our next tree planting event on 18 March 2012 - from 10.00 to 16.00 - in the For�t de Soignes / Zoni�nwoud which will be dedicated to Wangari Maathai. Check out this list of frequently asked questions and watch out for updates on this website, on our Facebook page and in our newsletter.
Car-Less For a Day
For those of us who live along Brussels' busy streets and its neighboring cities, Sunday, 18 September, began in a rather unusual way. Rather than waking to honking car horns or halting brakes, Brussels residents were greeted with quiet. If there was any noise to be heard, it was not from the typical cacophony of screeching engines and rattling old mufflers, but from the joyous notes of laughter shared by cycling families.
Last September 8, Sunbeams, in collaboration with the Jane Goodall Institute of Belgium and the Commune of Molenbeek, and with the support of a grant from Levi Strauss & Co., organized the Levi's Team Day. Several excited volunteers attended the event and spent the entire day cleaning up a park in Molenbeek, Brussels. It was a very typical Belgian day with lots of rain and a chill in the air, but the Levi's people showed up, ready to rock. They strapped on their gardening gloves and split into two groups for the cleanup. One group was in charge of clearing as much Japanese Nut Weed (a poisonous plant found growing on the property) as possible. While the other group, led by Sunbeams founder and president, Ilke, helped to improve the park by building an herb spiral.
Slovenian embassy to celebrate 20 years of country's independence by planting trees with sunbeams
This year the Republic of Slovenia is celebrating its 20th anniversary of independence. To commemorate this, as well as the International Year of Forests, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly, and to help greening our Planet, the Embassy of Slovenia will join us at the tree planting event on Sunday, the 20th of March 2011 in Oetingen, 20 km west of Brussels.
The Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia in Belgium, the embassy staff, and Slovenians living in Belgium will plant 20 linden trees (tilia europaea). In Slovenia, the linden tree has been considered much more than a renewable natural resource. From time immemorial, it has been regarded as a national symbol due to its special role. To this day, many a Slovenian village still clusters around an ancient linden tree, and for a good reason. Throughout history, the tree has served as a social and political center of the village. To its inhabitants it symbolized the "tree of life".
Wednesday, 02 March 2011, 09:15 - 10:30
�An apple a day keeps the doctor away� and other tips for naturally healthy and happy kids
At Savoorke, International Montessori School, Bergestraat 24, 3080 Tervuren.
Plant for the Planet in Belgium!
This year is the International Year of Forests. Forests are home to millions of people and they sustain the livelihoods of millions more. They are essential to life on the Planet. Sadly, forest areas continue to decline. You can do your share, though, by helping plant a forest in Belgium - and in Congo.
Dr. Jane in Brussels
What does the war in Congo, the chimpanzees, your mobile phone and your daily life have to do with one other? It was this strong and convincing holistic message of inter-connectedness which impressed me the most after hearing Dr. Jane Goodall speak in front of a full auditorium at the Free University of Brussels last 22 November 2010.
Jane Goodall in Brussels - Media Coverage
Here is a compilation of the press coverage of Jane Goodall�s visit to Belgium so far:
- New: EuroparlTV backstage video about the extraordinary visit of Dr Jane
- Sunbeams online photo album (please note that the photos are copyrighted)
- New Europe interview with Jane Goodall
- Article on our website about the EP event
- Article about Jane Goodall's visit to the European Parliament to meet a group of children including a video clip with subtitles in all EU languages.
- A slightly longer clip of the EP event
- The complete video of Dr. Jane's meeting with over 300 children of 37 nationalities at the European Parliament.
- Photos on the EP�s flickr page
- Spanish news agency EFE covers EP visit and signing of the first Belgian Giant Peace Dove (accompanying article)
- Flemish channel VTM covers Jane's VUB lecture
- Dr. Jane interviewed on 'De Laatste Show' on Belgium's main public TV channel - 'een'
- ZoomInTV's coverage of the UN press conference at the Brussels UN house - available in several languages
- Article at The Parliament
- Magda Fahsi: Des chimpanz�s au dialogue entre cultures
- Media coverage also included: interview for the youth programme of European Parliament TV and video of the public lecture at the VUB.
- Sunbeams will also create an online photo album - feel free to share your photos by simply e-mailing us!
Jane Goodall Addresses 300 Children of 37 Nationalities in Brussels
Dr. Jane Goodall was in the European Parliament on Monday (22 November) to talk to children of 37 nationalities from schools in Brussels. She talked about chimpanzees, the importance of conserving the environment and ensuring the future. "We haven't inherited the Planet from our parents, we borrowed it from our children," she told us in an interview before the conference when we also asked some questions from EP fans on Facebook.
Dr Goodall, you are in the EP but not to address MEPs, you are here to address a very different crowd, which is more interesting to you?
Yes, I'm going to be addressing young people, children from many different areas. Of course, it is important to address the Chamber too. The world is in such a mess, we have inflicted so much harm on it that we need to work from the top as well as from the bottom. But I'm certainly working very hard to developing our youth programme "Roots & Shoots".
What are the key messages you are going to deliver today?
That although we have harmed their future, there is a lot they can do. It's about time that we all get together, the elders and the youth and start healing some of the scars that we have inflicted.
Environmental protection and biodiversity are key subjects for the UN climate change conference in December in Mexico. What is your message to participants?
The message is that one of the most important things we can do to slow down climate change, and one of the most economically effective, is to protect tropical rainforests. As we cut down the forests, we release CO2, and then burning releases more, the forest itself is sequestering CO2.
Another message is to address intensive animal farming. Vast areas of forests are cut down to provide places to grow grain, more and more people eat more and more meat, they want cheap meat. The animals are fed unnatural diets so they produce huge amounts of methane gas which is a big contributor to the greenhouse effect. Cruelty aside, this intensive farming is incredibly damaging to the environment and to human health.
A question from Charlotte Biddle, an EP fan on Facebook: "As a UN messenger of peace what do you feel are the most important messages to convey regarding the environment and wildlife?"
The most important message is that environment is part of our future. So many people think it's a question of either or. Either it's human development or it's environmental protection. If we don't protect our environment and our natural resources, the future of our children is in jeopardy. There is a saying, "We haven't inherited the Planet from our parents; we borrowed it from our children". We've been stealing, stealing, stealing, and here we are, the most intellectual people ever to have walked on the Planet, and with this incredibly complex brain of ours we destroyed our only home.
It's been said that if everybody on the Planet had the standard of living of the average European, we would need up to 5, even 6 new planets. We don't even have one new planet. So we must use this complex brain of ours and start making wise decisions, based on how these decisions will affect people in the future, now how they affect us now.
Dinesh Kumar (EP fan on Facebook): What can common people do to protect biodiversity, after Homo Sapiens (supposedly wise man) destroyed a good part of it?
People often ask me: "What can I do?" The problems are so huge in the world that people feel helpless, and when you feel helpless you just don't do anything. Everyone leaves it to the scientists and the politicians, as "it is their problem, not mine". But I always say "just spend a few minutes every day thinking about the consequences of the choices you make - what you buy, what you eat, what you wear, how you get from A to B". Some people cannot afford to make the right choice but there are millions of people who can, and everyone can make some of the right choices.
Danielle Demos (EP fan on Facebook): Indigenous delegates to the Fifth World Parks Congress, Durban, South Africa in 2003 said, �First we were dispossessed in the name of Kings and emperors, later in the name of state development, and now in the name of conservation.� What would be your answer to them?
My answer is that I'm with them 100%. We work with indigenous people in several parts of the world. They have been abused, dispossessed; they were the stewards of their land. Fortunately in many places they begin to find their voice again. I'm so deeply impressed by the indigenous people who stand up against these forces who would dispossess them, even to the risk of their lives, to try a find a way for them to continue to be stewards of their land and to protect it from the rapacious greed of the rest of the world.
This article first appeared on the European Parliament website where a short video clip is also available.
You can also watch the video of all of Dr. Jane's address.


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Cure your "Eightyfouritis"*
*A rare, but curable strain of GAS (Gear Aquisition Syndrome) characterized by frequent and involuntary thoughts of KM 84 acquisition and use despite the availability of better value options.
NOTE: In stock and modified - No lead time wait!
New Sound Sample
Acoustic Guitar: Neumann KM 84 vs. OktavaMod'd MK-012
In the clip above, Grammy-winning engineer Bill Pearson cuts back and forth between the legendary KM 84 and my mod'd MK-012. There are thirteen edits in this clip. The mics are so similar the clip sounds like it was recorded with one mic only!
MJE modified MK-012 vs Neumann KM 84 on Piano
Neumann KM 84 pair, piano
MJE mod'd Oktava MK-012 pair, piano


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Mehr Nazis!
It goes without saying that most of us aren't too keen on Nazis, so when Hitler
orders his mindless minions to hunt down a set of ancient artifacts with supposed
magical properties, you know things can only go from bad to worse. That's when
it's time to return to the castle and place my size 10 1/2s in some digital Nazi
Tucked firmly under the GR microscope is Return to Castle Wolfenstein:
Tides of War, a commendable console fragfest. Though the single-player won't
win any wars, the exciting multiplayer experience via Xbox Live makes shooting
Nazis as rewarding as ever.
Wolfenstein series has a long history on the PC, with Wolfenstein
3D jump-starting the whole FPS genre. RTCW: Tides of War is the console
port for the PC sequel
of the same name (aside for the 'Tides of War' part).
You again play as B.J. Blazkowicz, a US Army Ranger recruited by some higher-ups
to travel deep into Germany to stamp out some Nazi wackos who are attempting
to resurrect an ancient, dusty German sorcerer-wacko. You with me? Good! Needless
to say, their success could mean the end of the world as we know it, and no
one feels fine. Except for me, because I love shooting digital Nazis.
However, there aren't enough of the hateful little buggers toward the later stages of the game, as you will discover while traversing level after level (30 in all) blasting whatever is fool enough to try and stand in your way. This is really the bulk of the game, with the plot unfolding through memos and other pieces of info you acquire along the way.
Your opposition consists of various Nazi baddies with some decent albeit not mind-bending AI. Nazis will duck for cover when shot at and pop their heads out to lick off a few shots in retaliation before seeking that comfy hiding spot yet again.
Popping these guys is great, but as you descend deeper into the Castle you
will be annoyed by the ubiquitous zombie menace. I swear, these guys are getting
more and more work these days. I have nothing against the undead – apparently
they need to get paid, too – but with zombies comes mindless AI. Obviously they
eat brains for a reason; namely, the lack thereof.
Still, the action in Tides of War is pretty good. The control is oddly
decent, even if it still isn't as good as the mouse/keyboard setup. The firefights
are intense and B.J. Blazkowicz get his hands on a number of real life WWII
weapons to help stick the swastika where the sun don't shine. Nearly 20 shell-spitters
will please any trigger happy digital fragger. There are knives, handguns, semi
and fully automatic machine guns and hand grenades, both foreign and domestic.
You'll even find some dynamite, a flamethrower, a tesla cannon and other goodies.
Some of the weapon sounds aren't that impressive but others are spot-on, as
is much of the other audio. The Dolby digital makes for a good killing backdrop.
Explosions, machinery and the general sounds of war are more than adequate.
slightly above average is the in-game graphics. Textures are smooth and crisp,
although they are a bit dark and gloomy. I'm sure this is intentional to keep
in pace with the Dr. Frankenstein theme of doom and gloom. Nonetheless, it all
comes together nicely with good character models and animations to add the coup
de grace.
However, at the end of the day Tides of War is just a shooter, and
what helps it over the steep hill of monotony is the exceptional Xbox Live multiplayer
There are a few ways to get the social fragfest going. You can play with a
single friend in a cooperative game via split screen, yet here you can only
play on levels you have accessed in the single player mode. There is also no
save feature in cooperative play, so it's all or nothing.
While cooperative play leaves a soldier hungry for more, the four team vs.
team game modes really give you a good taste of what a well-rounded online console
experience should be. Objective, Stopwatch (same as Objective but with a time
limit), Checkpoint (Capture the Flag) and Elimination (Deathmatch) comprise
the options. Each offers its own brand of excitement, but I find myself gravitating
toward the plain old Objective games. Online supports up to 16 players, though
you will rarely find a server at full capacity. When you do, it's all-out warfare
and a lot of fun.
Finding and starting a server is easy enough with plenty of options to tweak when hosting a game. There will also be downloadable content to add new life once the war gets old. Watch for additional maps, and let's keep our fingers crossed for new weapon as well.
RTCW: Tides of War is a solid addition to your FPS library and another
feather in the Xbox Live hat. The single player is okay, but it's really all
about sticking with a friend and coordinating offensives with your fellow teammates
over Xbox Live. This one should keep you in the field until Counter-Strike
and Halo 2 make
their way out of developer boot camp.


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Search our database of handpicked sites
Looking for a great physics site? We've tracked down the very best and checked them for accuracy. Just fill out the fields below and we'll do the rest.
You searched for "Doppler Effect", type: Website
We found 16 results on physics.org and 142 results in our database of sites
(of which 142 are Websites, 0 are Videos, and 0 are Experiments)
Search results on physics.org
A beginners' guide to exoplanets
How does technology know where in the world we are?
How do no-fly zones work?
All about... the International Space Station
How to curl a free kick?
What is radioactivity?
Faking Mayhem
How does GPS work?
What is cavitation?
How do 3D films work?
What is proton therapy?
Why do teapots drip?
Could your phone harm your health?
What causes the Earth's magnetic field?
Are lightsabers possible?
How weird is quantum?
Race to Mars - Known effects of long-term space flights on the human body
Read about the effect of space travel from feeling sick to bone loss and muscle wasting.
Accelerated Travels
A look at the combined effect on distance from an origin of distance traveled and relativistic effects during accelerated travel.
Moving Point source: Doppler effect and shock wave
An animation to illustrate the propagation of sound waves from a moving source. You can modify the wave speed, the source speed and wavelength.
Doppler Shift for Sound and Light
Text based page describing the mathematics of a Doppler Shift for sound and light.
Convection in a Box
Brief description of some experiments with smoke in a closed box, with normal convection currents and odd effects, includes diagrams and discussion of effects.
Relativistic Doppler Shift
Equation for Doppler Shift and relativistic Doppler shift.
Biological Effects of Low-Level, Electromagnetic Fields
Statements from the Institution of Engineering and Technology on the possible health effects of EM fields and radiation from power lines, mobile phones and their associated base stations.
Quantum biology: Do weird physics effects abound in nature?
Read how biology exploit quantum effects to harness nature.
The physical effect that creates tiny electrical storms in your body
An article explaining the thermodielectric effect and where it occurs.
How Blue Screen Special Effects Work
Explains how Blue Screen Special Effects for television and movies work. From HowStuffWorks.com.


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2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody: New Hellcat version gets girth and grip
CHELSEA, Mich. —
It looks like Dodge is closing out the Hellcat lineup with an all-new wide-body version, which is slated to hit dealers in the third quarter of 2017.
The 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody brings new fender flares that add 3.5 inches of width to the standard Challenger design. Also on tap, factory-installed 20 x 11-inch "Devil's Rim" split five-spoke aluminum wheels and 305/35ZR20 Pirelli P-Zero performance tires. This directly answers the enthusiasts request for a Hellcat with more grip.
"The new Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody completes our strongest Dodge muscle car lineup in history," said Tim Kuniskis, head of passenger cars for Dodge, SRT, Chrysler and FIAT – FCA North America, in a press release. "Our brand, engineering and design teams poured a ton of effort into making the new SRT Demon the world's fastest quarter-mile production car, so now we're leveraging that know-how, and some of those vital elements and transferring them to the new Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody for improved performance on the street and a bolder, more aggressive new look."
As a Hellcat, the Widebody model will get the same 6.2-liter Hemi V-8 engine that delivers 707 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. Base price will be $72,590 – which includes both a gas guzzler tax and destination.
Things to know about the Hellcat versus the Widebody include:
- Road course lap time on a 1.7-mile track lowered by approximately 2 seconds per lap
- Quarter-mile elapsed time is improved by approximately .3 sec
- Lateral skid pad grip increased by .04 g
- 0-60 mph acceleration improved by .1 second
- Top speed of 195 mph
Though the Widebody will hit dealers this fall, it's open for dealer orders starting in July.


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Two decades ago, while studying in Paris, I stumbled across the wonderful bookstore of the Libre Pensée ("Free Thought") association. Tucked away in the narrow streets of the Fifth Arrondissement, near where Balzac set Le Père Goriot, it seemed a relic of the past: shabby, dim and cluttered, the gentle odor of old book leather hinting at hidden treasures on the shelves. And indeed, most of the books appeared, delightfully, to have come out of an alternate timeline in which the age of Voltaire had never ended. Thick volumes denounced the hidden conspiracies of the Jesuits and chronicled the crimes of the Inquisition. Pamphlets offered concise defenses of Deism. And a rickety postcard stand displayed, alongside the usual images of the Pantheon and the Seine, engravings of the execution of Jean Calas, an eighteenth-century victim of religious bigotry posthumously exonerated through the efforts of Voltaire. One half expected to see the philosophe himself browsing quietly at the next shelf.
Back then, in the mid-1980s, La Libre Pensée seemed like nothing more than a pleasant curiosity. After all, the great battles of the Enlightenment had burned out long before. Religious intolerance and fanaticism were no longer matters of major concern. Indeed, for many of my French fellow students, the great enemy was the Enlightenment itself. Every week they would cram into a crowded lecture hall at the Collège de France to hear Michel Foucault, then in the last year of his life, explain how the eighteenth century saw the imprisoning of the Western world in a straitjacket of mental discipline. They struggled to grasp the quicksilver sentences in which Jacques Derrida deconstructed the criteria of rationality and truth that eighteenth-century philosophy had taken as axiomatic. They spoke derisively of an Enlightenment that had culminated not in modern democracy but in Auschwitz.
Today, things look rather different. Pace Foucault, enlightened psychiatrists and prison reformers do not seem particularly dangerous compared with suicide bombers and book burners. In the twenty-first century the Enlightenment appears anything but the triumphant imperial "project" denounced by vulgar postmodernists. Its heritage is fragile and endangered. Admittedly, its works remain in the "canon"–but perhaps only because they go largely unread in certain quarters. I sometimes wonder what would happen if, for instance, a public university system asked all entering students to read Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, with its deep, deliberate offensiveness toward Christianity. What if a major studio attempted to film his Mahomet, a play far more systematically disparaging of the Prophet than Rushdie's Satanic Verses?
If nothing else, though, our own century's retreat from the Enlightenment should help us appreciate that this great movement of ideas has been a fragile thing all along, and never more than in its supposed eighteenth-century heyday. Its swift apparent triumph in the American and French revolutions makes it easy to forget that its greatest authors constantly ran afoul of the authorities and took great personal risks throughout their careers. Both Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as these two excellent new biographies point out, had books officially shredded and burned in Paris–even if, in Voltaire's case, the responsible official surreptitiously substituted another volume at the last minute, so as to take the offending one home for himself. Roger Pearson reminds us that Voltaire served several stints in prison, lived much of his life in exile from his native France and had to have the sheets of his first great work, the Philosophical Letters, smuggled into Paris in a furniture cart. Even his most famous patron, Prussia's Frederick the Great, once remarked of him: "I shall have need of him for another year at most, no longer. One squeezes the orange and throws away the peel." As for Rousseau, Leo Damrosch recalls that the threat of prosecution kept him constantly on the move among France, Switzerland and Britain. "I never get a virtuous or useful idea," Rousseau wrote to his patron Malesherbes in 1765, "without seeing the gallows or the scaffold before me."


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I have tried and moderately like the Focus Dailies lenses. I've used them, as well as Clearsight 1 day and Acuvue 1 Day Moist. In my experience, the Focus Dailies seem to give me slight double vision/blurriness for things far away. Clearsight weren't much better, though I admittedly just used them for 1 day. In addition, the Focus Dailies irritate my eyes after about 5-6 hours, causing redness. When I try to remove them, they're very difficult, requiring some times as many as 10 firm pinches (painful on my eye) to remove them. This is not ideal for new wearers who have difficulty with removing their lenses with any other brand. In my experience, the Acuvue 1 Day Moist provided clearer vision for me (no distant double vision), and the first pinch would remove them every time, often barely touching them would result in them popping inside out and sticking to my eyelid. I know that sounds gross, but they're dailies I threw them away, and it's a relief to have contacts come out so easily. These are good if you don't mind the potential drawbacks, because they're an inexpensive way to wear contacts. However, make sure you don't have problems with eye dryness before you try these, since my irritation occurs faster with this brand than others. I would recommend trying a week trial first, and if your doctor's office doesn't carry them, find a way to get a small quantity (30 at the most) to start. I bought 4 90 packs, and I'm contemplating returning them and going with the Acuvue's at double the cost.
Jun 2010
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Press Release
Leader of $92 Million Mortgage Fraud Conspiracy Pleads Guilty
October 15, 2010
Thomas Kontogiannis, a New York real estate developer who led a mortgage fraud conspiracy resulting in more than $90 million losses, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud in federal court in Brooklyn today. Kontogiannis admitted defrauding Washington Mutual Bank ("WAMU") and DLJ Mortgage Capital, Inc. ("DLJ"), a subsidiary of Credit Suisse, in connection with his development of two tracts of land in Brooklyn and Queens. The proceedings were held before United States District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto.The guilty plea was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Janice K. Fedarcyk, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, Richard H. Neiman, New York Superintendent of Banks, and Jon T. Rymer, Inspector General, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The indictment alleges that from 2001 to 2003, Kontogiannis purchased and subdivided Loring Estates, located in East New York, Brooklyn, and Edgewater Development, located in College Point, Queens. After the conspirators obtained permits to construct multi-unit housing, Kontogiannis staged sales of the properties financed by mortgage loans. He then directed others to prepare false loan files to create the appearance that the properties were being purchased by creditworthy homeowners, when, in fact, Kontogiannis sold the properties to family members and employees who acted as straw buyers. The mortgages were supported by fraudulent appraisals depicting finished homes when the buildings had yet to be built or had fictional addresses, and the mortgage files contained fraudulent title abstract reports and other documentation designed to indicate that the seller, a Kontogiannis-controlled entity, had clear title to convey and that the lender's interest was protected by title insurance. The loans were financed by lenders controlled by Kontogiannis, including Interamerican Mortgage Corp., later known as CIP Mortgage Corp. and Coastal Capital Corp. After the loans were closed, Kontogiannis ensured that the mortgages and deeds were not recorded, thereby permitting him to "sell" the same property repeatedly. Kontogiannis eventually sold the loans to WAMU or DLJ.
In an effort to conceal the multiple sales of the same properties, Kontogiannis changed the addresses of properties located in East New York, Brooklyn, to addresses in neighboring Howard Beach, Queens. In addition, he directed others to make monthly payments on the mortgages, ensuring that none of the mortgages became delinquent. The payments ceased in 2007, with approximately $92 million in principal outstanding on the fraudulent mortgages.
Kontogiannis, along with eight other defendants, were indicted on conspiracy and bank and wire fraud charges in June 2009. Four other defendants have pleaded guilty to date.
"The scope of this fraud is staggering," stated United States Attorney Lynch. "The defendant controlled every aspect of the mortgage lending process, right up to the sale of fraudulent loans into the secondary market." Ms. Lynch expressed her grateful appreciation to the New York State Banking Department for its assistance.
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Fedarcyk stated, "Kontogiannis has added another conviction to his rap sheet by defrauding banks and others in his $92 million mortgage fraud scheme. He thought he had the system figured out and now faces adding even more time to his sentence. This guilty plea is a step towards cleaning up the housing market, and the FBI will continue to vigorously investigate those that perpetrate this type of crime which affects all Americans."
New York Superintendent of Banks Neiman stated, "This plea of guilty to one of the largest mortgage frauds directed by a single individual was made possible by seamless coordination between federal agencies and the state banking department. This degree of cooperative federalism, with each agency contributing specialized expertise, will restore confidence in the mortgage sector and the greater financial system."
FDIC Inspector General Rymer stated, "The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG) is pleased to join the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York and our law enforcement colleagues in announcing this guilty plea. The American people need to be assured that their government is working to ensure integrity in the financial services and housing industries and that individuals and entities involved in mortgage fraud criminal misconduct will be prosecuted. Bringing these individuals to justice helps maintain the safety and soundness of the nation's financial institutions."
Kontogiannis faces up to 30 years' imprisonment on the conspiracy count to which he pleaded guilty. Kontogiannis also consented to forfeiture of the proceeds of his fraudulent activity, including a criminal forfeiture money judgment and money traceable to four commercial properties he controlled worth at least $50 million.
The government's case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan E. Green and Duncan Levin.
This law enforcement action is part of President Barack Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes. More information about the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force can be found at www.stopfraud.gov.
The Defendant:THOMAS KONTOGIANNIS
Age: 61
Department of Financial Services
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What to CookCommunity
Editors' Picks -- Fair Food
Once again, we want to give a big thanks to all of our volunteer recipe testers for your thoughtful comments and for helping us continue to strengthen our recipe recommendations. You can read each tester's comments by clicking through to the Editors' Picks recipes — the comments are under "Amanda and Merrill's Notes" at the top. And even if the recipe you tested wasn't chosen as an EP, please feel free to leave your testing notes in the recipe's comments section. Constructive criticism is always encouraged!
Congratulations to another great batch of Editors' Picks!
- Editors' Picks for Fair Food
- Ham Balls with a Pineapple and Chipotle Drizzle
- The Cuban
- Italian Sausage and Ratatouille Subs
- Maryland Crab Balls
- Corn Dog-ccoli
- Fazzoletti Dolce (Sweet Kerchiefs)
- Chicken Fried Macaroni and Cheese
- Grilled corn with smokey peach butter
- Peach and Blackberry Creamsicle
- Spiced Churros
- Kickin' Rocky Road Popcorn


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Cultural Interiors
5372 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
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If today turns out to be an average one for Kentucky's hospitals, here is a glimpse of what is taking place: More than 6,600 patients will be treated in emergency rooms; 14,000 more will be helped with other outpatient services; 1,500 will be discharged after a stay of about four-and-a-half days; and 150 of the state's newest citizens will be born.
This information, compiled by the Kentucky Hospital Association, gives us a much clearer view of the one place in our communities that we may not always want to visit but are always glad that it's there.
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Off-the-Hinges Accounting Engagements: No Naps for Auditors—Or Controllers
Chris Cobb, CPA, started his career drinking through the fire hose of corporate audits. He worked for seven years as an auditor for Deloitte where he typically had five or more clients each year resulting in multiple quarters and at least five year-end closings. Chris made the leap to corporate accounting in November 2011 when he joined well-known retailer Vera Bradley as assistant corporate controller. Chris is a 2010 alumnus of the AICPA Leadership Academy; Edge sat down with him to talk about his career and how corporate finance is different from auditing.
Edge: You worked for Deloitte for seven years. What was it like to start you career in auditing?
Chris Cobb: The first year was extremely overwhelming because you learn a lot of information within a very short amount of time. In college, you go to class and the learning is very basic. In the real world, it is kind of like the first year of college because you are taking it all in, adapting to the new environment, and juggling competing priorities, but of course there is a lot more pressure. There are no naps in auditing; in college, I napped daily!
Edge: Why did you leave auditing?
Chris Cobb: It was due to a mix of things—changes in regulations, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board coming down hard on auditors, increased documentation levels and, personally, I did not think I wanted to be a partner at the firm.
Toward the end of my public accounting career, I did a presentation for high school students and it made me more aware that I didn't want to stay in auditing, so I decided to look around. I networked with my peer groups to determine what to do next. In college, you are advised to go to the Big 4 because of "endless opportunities," but there comes a point where you don't know what you want to do next. I decided to try the corporate world and get out of audit altogether. For a millisecond, I even considered financial planning, but I don't have enough of a sales side for that.
Edge: How is corporate life different? Are you napping more?
Chris Cobb: Ha! There's no napping in corporate either! Compared to quarterly and year-end work in public accounting, I have only three quarters and one year-end to manage at Vera Bradley, but there are a lot of other things to do in corporate accounting that I wasn't exposed to in auditing. For example, I oversee SEC reporting, general corporate accounting, and financial shared services, including accounts payable/accounts receivable and payroll. I have many team members reporting to me and they have team members reporting to them.
I love what I do because every day is a bit different, primarily due to my large breadth of responsibilities. In corporate accounting, there is the blocking and tackling to ensure the books are right. The SEC makes sure we report to the public what we need to, when we need to, and financial shared services is what keeps the lights on and the cash rolling in. In my experience with the Big 4, I learned a lot from my clients about what works well and what doesn't—something very valuable to my current role.
Edge: How about working at Vera Bradley? Do you have to wear paisley to work?
Chris Cobb: I love paisley! When the new product comes out each season, we get to have one of the products and there is always a bit of fighting over the best patterns. Seriously, though, the team here is strong, young, and energetic, and our CEO is also young and eager, making for a great work environment. The pace of work at Vera Bradley is very quick, especially since we went public in October 2010. We are trying to adapt to the increased scrutiny of being public, and the new reporting and internal control requirements, all while trying to keep the shareholders happy. My days are fast paced, with many projects and meetings—and no naps!
Edge: What do you do when you aren't at work?
Chris Cobb: I got married in 2010, another reason I left auditing. We have a 1-year old boy named Paxton who is into everything. We still try to camp twice a year at a state park with friends from college. We just love to be outside, either walking around the neighborhood, going to the park, or letting the little guy splash around in the kiddie pool. Life is good.
AICPA's 2013 Leadership Academy – Apply Now!
Interested in learning more about the AICPA Leadership Academy? The next class will be held in Durham, North Carolina, September 29 - October 3, 2013. The application deadline is May 31, 2013. Click here for more information and to apply for the Academy.


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USDA authorizes emergency grazing of CRP acres
Nolan County USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) Executive Director Dennis Cumbie announced that Nolan County was authorized for emergency grazing use of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres for fiscal year (FY) 2013. The following Texas counties are approved for emergency grazing: Armstrong, Bailey, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Childress, Crosby, Dawson, Deaf Smith, Dickens, Donley, Floyd, Gray, Hale, Hardeman, Hemphill, Hockley, Kent, Lamb, Lipscomb, Lubbock, Nolan, Ochiltree, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Roberts, Scurry, Sherman, Swisher, Terry, Wheeler and Yoakum.CRP emergency grazing authorizations for the above counties will begin no earlier than Dec. 1, for a 90 day period, not to exceed Feb. 28, 2013. Based on a decision made by the Texas FSA State Committee, CRP emergency grazing approval will only be available for those CRP lands that were not utilized for haying or grazing during fiscal year 2011 or 2012. FSA's fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. "Eligible producers who are interested in emergency grazing of CRP must request approval before grazing eligible acreage and obtain a modified conservation plan from the Natural Resources Conservation Service that includes grazing provisions," said Cumbie. "Current provisions allow grazing on 100 percent of a field, up to the 75 percent stocking rate," he said. Additionally, there will be a 25 percent CRP payment reduction for CRP acres used for grazing under these emergency provisions. To take advantage of the emergency grazing provisions, authorized producers can use the CRP acreage for their own livestock or may grant another livestock producer use of the CRP acreage. The eligible CRP acreage is limited to acres located within the approved county. For more information and to request approval for emergency grazing use of CRP acres contact the Nolan County FSA office at 325-235-8693.


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Actor Michael J. Fox has reached out to Taylor Swift after poking fun at her dating disasters in an online interview.
The Back to the Future star followed up Golden Globes hosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey's comedy warning for the singer to stay away from Fox's son, who was an official usher at the prizegiving, by taking aim at the unlucky in love singer in a Vulture.com article.
He told the website he wouldn't know who Swift was if his son Sam brought her home, and then joked, "Taylor Swift writes songs about everybody she goes out with, right?" - referring to the singer's penchant for writing heartbreak tunes about her exes.
Feeling awful about his comments, Fox has reached out to Swift to apologize and in a tweet on Friday (18Jan13), she wrote, "Hey everybody, Michael J. Fox got in touch with me today and we are good."


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Vincent F. "Jim" Varisano
Vincent F. "Jim" Varisano, 85, of 621 Dawson Street, Kane, died Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 at his residence.Born Dec. 16, 1926, in Kane, he was a son of the late Peter and Angeline Ferraro Varisano.Jim, a graduate of Kane High School Class of 1944, served in the U.S. Army during World War II, with service in Japan. He was employed by the U.S. Postal Service in Kane, retiring in 1986 after 31 years of service. As an active member of his church and community, Jim was a lifetime 4th degree member of the Knights of Columbus Council #715, and a lifetime member of the following: American Legion Post #250, Moose Lodge #130, Lions Club, Elks Lodge #329 and the Sons of Italy.Additionally, he was a member of the V.F.W. Lodge #1307, the D.A.V., Kane Country Club, Kane Chamber of Commerce, Kane Fish & Game Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Ludlow Sportsmen's Club and the AARP.Also, as a member of St. Callistus Catholic Church, he served on the finance committee and the pastoral council.In 1992, Jim was selected as the "Outstanding Citizen of the Year" for his service to the community, much of which he did anonymously.Surviving are two sisters, Rose Varisano and Anne (Walt) Nalducci of Kane; a sister-in–law, Janice Varisano of Ridge, N.Y.; 13 nieces and nephews; 35 great-nieces and great-nephews; and four great-great-nieces and great-great-nephews.In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a brother, Louis Varisano; and two sisters, Nancy Sirianni and Mary Varisano.A Mass of Christian Burial for Vincent F. "Jim" Varisano will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Callistus Church, with the Rev. Philip Pinczewski, pastor, officiating. Burial will be at St. Callistus Cemetery.Friends will be received at the Cummings Funeral Home, Inc. on Tuesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m., with a vigil service at 8:30 p.m. Memorial donations, if desired, may be made to St. Callistus Church, 342 Chase Street, Kane, PA 16735.Online condolences can be expressed at www.cummingsfh.com.


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Create an inspiring home office, makeover your workspace or organize your desktop. At The Container Store, you'll find a wide range of office storage ideas, office supplies and office organization products in a variety of styles to choose from. That includes office storage and designer desktop collections that clear clutter and coordinate with any color scheme, office setting or home decor. Filing cabinets, folders, file holders and office organizers sort documents so everything's easy to find. Drawer organizers, paper storage and desk accessories keep work supplies in order for quick access. Keep your cords under control with cable management solutions and cable ties. Whether your home office is a dedicated room or a small kitchen corner, you can find space-saving designs as well as message boards, planners and calendars that help you maintain a perfect work-family balance.
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